As Long As You Love Me
by writergirl87
Summary: After the sudden death of 15 year old Tara Knowles' father, her mom moves them across the country to live near Tara's Aunt and Uncle, Luanne and Otto Delaney. Tara was more interested in books than boys until she met Jax Teller. **I do not own these characters, this is just my spin on Jax and Tara as teenagers.**


**PROLOGUE:**

There had to be a light at the end of this tunnel. Fifteen-year-old Tara Knowles had been through so much shit in the recent months with her dad dying suddenly in the line of duty, her mom's brief checkout with grief, and now moving them across the country to live with her estranged sister in California.

Tara's aunt Luanne owned a porn studio and her husband Otto was a member of a motorcycle club. Tara's parents were completely against the lifestyle and didn't want any part of it. Until now.

 **Chapter 1**

"There they are." Tara's mom pointed to the couple walking toward them. The woman wore a too small tank top with her boobs almost falling over the top, a short skirt that barely covered her ass, and enough make up for the entire group of circus clowns to share. The man next to her was covered in tattoos, had long hair pulled into a pony tail, wore a leather biker vest with his hand cupped to his wife's ass.

Tara choked back a laugh at the sight of them. Is this for real or were they punking her?

"Be nice." Her mom warned under her breath, stifling a smile. "Lu, it's so good to see you." Grace extended her arms to hug her sister.

"I'm so glad you've decided to come home, Gracie. Charming has missed you. This must be Tara." Luanne turned and pulled Tara into a bear hug. "You're gorgeous, babygirl." Tara fought the urge to cringe when her aunt's boobs pressed harder into her. "Otto, ain't she pretty?" She said still holding her tightly. Otto nodded in agreement, "Luanne, why don't you let the girl get used to us before you go making her uncomfortable?" He gave Tara a wink when Luanne let go of him to smack at his arm.

Her mom was born and raised here, had her first love there, and then she met Tom Knowles and decided she wanted more from life than this town could give. She wanted her children to have a better life, so she left the town and everyone in it behind.

"Gemma is having a dinner party to welcome you back. Everyone will be there, they're all excited to have you back." Otto stated, picking up our luggage.

"Yeah," Luanne chimed in, "Clay will even be there." She winked, elbowing Grace lightly.

"Who's Clay?" Tara questioned, feeling like she already knew the answer. Her mom had talked about loving a guy before her dad, but she never mentioned his name.

"Clay was your mom's old beau," Luanne answered, ignoring Grace who was shaking her head for her to be quiet, "they were supposed to get married but then your pops came into the picture and moved her away from us."

That was new. "You were supposed to marry someone other than dad?" Tara questioned.

"That was a very long time ago, honey. Then I met your dad and couldn't deny the sparks between us, so I picked him and don't regret my decision at all." She glared at Luanne.

"I'm not saying you regret it, Tom was a good man. He was good to you and my niece, but he took you away from your family, so I was just saying things could have been different. You could have lived here, and I could have met my niece before she was practically all grown up."

"You could have met her anytime, Luanne. You were the one who chose not to come visit."

"That's a two-way street, Gracie."

Tara shoved her earbuds in, deciding not to listen to the rest of the argument. She watched her mom in silence, fixing her hair, smoothing out her blouse. She wondered if she was trying a little too hard to make herself presentable before seeing everyone-specifically this Clay dude.

The car stopped in front of a huge white house that had motorcycles parked everywhere. Butterflies filled Tara's stomach, she had never been one for big crowds of people. She liked to keep to herself. She didn't have a lot of friends, not because she was a geek or anything. She was just a more of a loner. she's never had a boyfriend. She had gone on dates before but they all made her skin crawl. She preferred a good book over some jock wannabe trying to feel her up or drool all over her.

People filed out onto the lawn. Men who wore the same clothes as Otto, most of them were just as tatted up—if not more than him. Women in skin tight clothing just like Luanne. A lady came out with her arms outstretched toward Grace wrapping her in a hug. Tara still had her earbuds in so couldn't hear the conversation going on around her. She hoped they ignored her completely. That was a false hope. She noticed all eyes on her as her mom placed a hand on her back obviously introducing her. Grace yanked the earbud from Tara's ear. "Kids. She's shy." She laughed. "Tara, this is Gemma Teller. She was my best friend back in the day."

"Hello, ma'am" Tara said shyly.

"Hi, baby." The woman answers with a wide smile. "I've got a son about your age."

"Cool." Tara mutters, wishing like hell their attention would turn from her to someone else. Just then she saw her mom freeze, a small gasp of air escaped her lips as she stared straight ahead. Tara looked to see what she was looking at. A man wearing a vest with a Vice President patch on it. He had blondish hair with a hint of grey, a mustache that matched, he was muscular and had tattoos on his arms.

"Hey Clay." Her mom breathed heavily with a hint of giddiness that irritated Tara.

"You're even more beautiful than I remember." He kissed Grace's cheek softly. His attention solely on her. "It's so good to see you."

Tara noticed the hint of a blush creeping on her mom's cheek, "thank you. It's good to see you too. How have you been?"

Tara felt like she was going to puke. Here her mom was making googly eyes and breathy conversations with this dude and her dad's only been gone six months.

"I need to use the restroom." Tara groaned, hoping her mother would get the hint.

"I'll show you where it is baby." Gemma winked, sensing Tara's frustration with the scene that's playing out in front of her. "Let's let your mom and Clay catch up."

" ..uh…okay, whatever I guess." Tara followed behind her glaring back in her mom's direction.

"I bet the last few months have been hard for you, baby. I just want to let you know that we all love your mom. She's family here. That makes you family. We protect our own. You may feel like you're all alone here, but you were just introduced to a big extended family that will be here for both of you anytime you need us. It will get easier. We're the light at the end of the dark tunnel." She opened a door and motioned Tara inside, "here you go. My boy and some other kids are around here somewhere, I'm going to go round them up. I'll meet you out there when you get done." She pointed toward the back patio.

Tara nodded hoping her face didn't give her away. These people weren't her family. Yeah, they seem nice enough but being nice to someone doesn't make you family. If they all just expect her to accept this new life with open arms, then they've got another thing coming. Her mom may have history with these people, but she doesn't and she's not going to pretend she does for anyone's benefit. Her parents told her for years that the lifestyle these people lived was wrong and now that her dad is dead—here she is yacking it up with them like she never left.

She briefly wondered how long she could hide out in the bathroom before the overzealous outlaw biker queen came back in to make her associate with her gang of biker kids. She instantly felt bad for judging them before meeting them but from what she's seen from the parents—the apple isn't going to fall far from the tree. She laughed at the thought of her mom being engaged to Clay—the VP of a motorcycle bike gang and then ended up marrying her dad who was the Chief of Police, and now back to the land of the outlaws.

"Tara," Gemma knocked on the door, "you okay in there?"

Tara rolled her eyes with a muted groan, guess hideout time is up. "Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." She stared at her pale complexion in the mirror, tucking her dark hair behind her ears sighing, "let's get this over with." She said under her breath.

She opened the door and followed Gemma outside. "They're all excited to meet you."

Tara stared at the group of kids standing outside underneath the shade of a gigantic tree.

"This is my son, Jax. He can introduce you to the rest of the group." Gemma patted a tall blonde boy on his back. He turned around and Tara felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. He looked like he stepped right out of a magazine or a movie set. His blonde hair glistened in the sunlight. She felt as if she could get lost in his ocean blue eyes. He was built, not overly built, but his muscles in his arms and chest stood out underneath his white tee perfectly.

"How ya doin' darlin?" He crooned giving her a crooked grin.

Tara felt muscles tighten deep inside of her that she had never felt before. She put on her best poker face, "fine and you?"

He stared at her as if he could read every thought that was racing through her mind and grinned running his tongue over his lips causing those muscles to clench again.

"Your name's Tara right?"

She simply nodded, fearing if she tried to talk she would sound all breathy like her mom did with Clay and she definitely did not want that.

"Well Tara," he gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder, making her heart feel like a racehorse sprinting toward the finish line. "This is my best friend, Opie and his girl Donna. That's Wendy and Ima. The two girls he pointed at were throwing daggers at her with their eyes. She wasn't sure which one of them were his girlfriend but if looks could kill, she'd be a goner.

"So Tara, what brings you to _our_ town?" One of the mean-girl wannabes questioned. "I mean, there are plenty of other places you could go so why not go there?"

"I guess I'm here just to fuck up your day." Tara stared her down. She didn't normally have a fuck off attitude with people, but these girls rubbed her the wrong way after only five minutes.

Jax, Opie, and Donna laughed. "She's got spunk, I like her already." Donna giggled.

"Yeah, I think you're going to fit right in." Jax agreed. He took his arm off her shoulder and leaned against the tree.

"Well I think she's a bitch and shouldn't be a part of our group." Ima hissed crossing her arms.

"Who are you…" Tara started but stopped talking when Donna interrupted, "bitch you're not even apart of our group. The only reason you two are even here is because your mom is blowing the members."

Ima and Wendy exchanged glances and giggled, "that's not what Jax says when he's balls deep inside of us. He's deciding which one of us he's going to make an old lady when he patches in." Wendy declared.

Jax choked on the soda he had just chugged, "the fuck? I've never said anything about either of ya'll being old ladies. I told both ya'll from the beginning, we were just having fun. I'm not looking for an old lady."

"You'll change your mind." Ima answered smugly. "I'm a good lay, you're going to want this pussy for life."

Tara stood in silence, glad for the attention to be off her for now. Watching the girls fawn over Jax with hopes of it being more was kind of amusing. Almost like watching a soap opera.

"Gross. Anyways," Donna interrupted whatever Jax started to say, "where are you from, Tara?"

"Jacksonville, Florida."

"Cool, I've never been to Florida." Donna replied, grinning as her boyfriend nibbled on her ear.

"Seriously, not trying to be a bitch but what brought you here?" Wendy pressed walking to stand next to Jax and run her fingers across the crotch of his jeans and slamming her ass against him.

Tara was stunned that there were adults around and none of them seemed to care that there was a soft porno going on with their teenagers. "My mom's from here, she's Luanne's sister after all."

"Yeah, I know all that, but why are you here now?" Wendy asked annoyed that Tara wasn't answering her question.

"My dad was killed, my mom had sort of a nervous breakdown so here we are. Happy now?" Tara turned around and stalked off toward the swing set at the side of the yard. She felt the tears burning in her eyes. It was still hard to mention her dad, especially to a bunch of strangers.

"Hey." Jax jogged to catch up with her. "You aight? I'm sorry about them. They're not bad girls, they are just territorial."

"Tell them they have nothing to worry about, I'm not trying to encroach on their territory at all. You're not a free dick, message received."

"Actually, I am. I don't have an old lady—like I said so I can be with whomever I want to whether they like it or not." Jax interrupted and that grin was back.

"Well, I don't know what an old lady is and I'm not even like that. I've never….I mean, I don't jump into bed with random people just because I 'can'." She felt embarrassed she almost let it slip that she was a virgin to a total stranger. She's never felt embarrassed by that before but for some reason here—with this guy and this group of people maybe she should be?

"I didn't think you were like that." Jax assured her. "I could tell that by looking at you. I mean you don't dress like that's what you're after."

She knew he didn't mean it in a bad way, but it still made her feel self-conscious, "what do you mean by that? What's wrong with the way I dress?"

He held up his hands and shook his head adamantly, "nothing at all. I just mean you don't dress like them." He looked over at Wendy and Ima, who dressed almost identically to her aunt Luanne. "They leave little to the imagination. You on the other hand…well let's just say you….you're beautiful without having to dress trashy."

Tara's face flushed bright red, "uh…um…thanks, but I think you need your eyes checked."

"Right." He laughed. "You probably say that to all the guys who call you beautiful."

"That would require someone to actually say it. The only time anyone has actually said that to me is when they were trying to get in my pants so that doesn't really count." She couldn't believe she was sitting here being called beautiful by someone who looked like Jax. She never dreamed in a million years she'd have someone as hot as him even thinking that about her—but he's probably just being nice.

"Well, it sounds like the dudes in Florida are the ones who need their eyes checked because from where I'm standing you're stunning."

"Thanks." She dropped her eyes to the ground unsure of what else to say. She hated small talk. It always felt forced when she tried so she tried avoiding it at all cost.

"Come on kids, let's eat." Gemma called from the porch.

When Tara stepped into the kitchen she immediately scanned the room for her mom who was seated next to Clay laughing like a crazy person at something he'd said. She hadn't seen her mom laugh like that since her dad used to do his stupid impressions of the criminals he'd encounter on the streets and the excuses they'd give for why they did their crime. She had a feeling this man was the exact reason they were here, and she misunderstood what her mom meant when she said we were coming here to be with family. She meant all of them, especially Clay and Gemma, more than she meant Luanne and Otto.

Gemma was right, this was their new extended family. Tara wasn't thrilled with how fast her mom seemed to be moving on, but she did like seeing her happy. At least they all seemed like nice people and some of them were nice to look at. She glanced over at Jax Teller who was also looking at her.


End file.
